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Bryan Singer Accuser Drops Sex-Abuse Lawsuit

A federal judge on Wednesday permitted a former child model to drop his lawsuit accusing of X-Men: Days of Future Past director Bryan Singer of sexually abusing him about 15 years ago. However, The Associated Press reports the door was left open for the plaintiff to refile later if he chooses.

Michael Egan III said in court documents filed previously in Honolulu that his motion to dismiss “has little to do with the strength of [Singer’s] defense, but rather, it is a consequence of the current circumstances regarding my case, my lack of legal counsel, and my inability to proceed in this matter acting on my own behalf.” His former attorney, Jeff Herman, asked to be removed from the case in May, saying their relationship had deteriorated.

Egan sued Singer in April, claiming that in 1999, when he was 17, the filmmaker gave him alcohol and drugs, and sexually assaulted him at estates in Hawaii and California. Singer denied the accusations. The plaintiff, now 31, quickly followed with lawsuits against former Disney executive David Neuman, former television executive Garth Ancier and Broadway producer Gary Goddard, only to drop them last month.

Singer sought to have Egan’s lawsuit dismissed with prejudice, meaning it couldn’t be refiled, and to have the plaintiff pay his legal fees. But U.S. District Judge Susan Oki Mollway denied the request, saying in her order, “Any alleged damage to defendant’s reputation may well be ameliorated by plaintiff’s voluntary dismissal of the action.”

Still, the filmmaker’s attorney Marty Singer said his client is pleased with the judge’s decision. “Although we would have liked the case dismissed on merits, the fact that now it’s dropped … is satisfactory,” he told The AP. “We’re pleased that it’s over.”

Vince Finaldi, an attorney advising but not representing Egan, wouldn’t indicate what he might do next. “I’ve got to leave a little bit of cliff-hanger here,” Finaldi told The AP.

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Comments

We might never know the full story. But for now, I am willing to say “innocent until proven guilty” and watch Singer films without feeling dirty.

lewis4510

The fact that the judge didn’t dismiss it with prejudice means that the judge felt that the case had some merit.

Phil Wright

I think it’s a very hard proof to put something together that happened 17 years ago. The judge may not have felt the case had particular merit, but he allowed the client to refile at a later date due to his own difficulties in finding and keeping representation.

I feel that even if this did happen, it’s way too late in the game to have any proof left over.

JGLives

Especially if it is male and male relations. If a woman was involved, there’s a chance of seeing a doctor, becoming pregnant, or obtaining the condom.

For males, unless there is video or some kind of physical evidence like the condom, it will be a hard fight.

Seeing how it is still up in the air, but that no concrete information was released proving one way or another, then I’ll continue to watch Singer films.

But I wasn’t a fan of them (sans Superman Returns (though it has flaws) to begin with.

My only hope is that true justice is served in the end on this matter to whom ever deserves it.

While I knew about this case, I always stand by “innocent until proven guilty”.

PietroMaximoff

he abused him in Hawaii and California?
i’m confused… if he was already abused in Hawaii, why would he go to his parties in California or viceversa?

mel

He’s an idiot or he enjoyed it.

JGLives

Victims sometimes don’t realize they have been victimized until much later.

JozefAL

It wasn’t “17 years ago”–it was, at best, 15 years. Egan is now 31 and Egan’s own accounting of the alleged abuse took place when he was 17 years old.

For what it’s worth, under CURRENT Hawai’ian state law, the age of consent is 16. I’m still not certain how this suit even made it into Hawai’ian courts. It seems unlikely that the state would have, in the last 15 years, have LOWERED the age of consent if it was going to allow victims of sexual abuse to have a couple more years to file charges against their abuser.

Harry

Yeah, just around the time they realize they can get paid.

JGLives

So…you still agree they are a victim? That they suffered a severe and traumatizing ordeal?

Victims of sexual abuse can take years to process the event(s) and even longer if their career, social status, or or livelihood is threaten either by the abuser or by the community that find themselves in.

Unfortunately, sexual abuse survivors are seemingly treated as criminals first by the public before a trial is ever done.

If the accused is “innocent until proven guilty”, then why is the reverse done to the accuser? They should both be held as innocent until the case is held.